DISCLAIMER:
I do not own the Sweeney Todd the play, book, movie, or characters.
This is merely fanfiction.

Antony felt the blood
drain from his face as he grabbed Johanna's hand and escaped the
Asylum, making way to the pie shop. His heart was beating so fast
that everything around him just seemed to be dream-like. Johanna had
been quiet the entire time, and her face void of emotion. However, he
didn't say a word until they got to the pie shop. He grabbed his
knees, leaning over and catching his breath. "We... we made it,"
he gasped, looking up at her. Johanna's eyes seemed empty and her
wheat blond hair was in disarray. She said nothing but gazed at him.
Antony regained his posture and opened up the door to the shop,
letting her in. "Mrs. Lovett?" he yelled out but got no
response. Instead, he heard the yawn of a person in another room.
"Toby?" he asked a bit more quietly. The young boy walked
into the room, rubbing his eyes and smacking his lips together to
regain taste in his dry mouth. "Antony? What are ya doin' here?"
he inquired sleepily. "Toby, where's Mrs. Lovett?" Antony
searched around the abandoned shop. "I 'unno where mum is. Maybe
she went out for a walk," he said, shrugging his shoulders.
Shaking his head, Antony looked back at Johanna. "I left clothes
in the living room for you. Boy clothes. That way no one will
recognize you. I have to go get a chariot, but wait here. Don't move.
Mr. Todd and Mrs. Lovett will be here soon enough and they'll take
care of you until I come back..." He said, grabbing her hands
and smiling broadly at her. "All the nightmares will end
Johanna. We can finally start our life together, fresh." He
couldn't hide the anticipation and hope in his voice. Johanna merely
stared at him with lifeless eyes. "No matter what you do,
Antony... You can never make the nightmares go away. No one can ever
make the nightmares go away..." she muttered in a soft, piercing
voice. He looked confused at what she said for a second, but then
kissed the top of her head. "They will now, my love," he
told her reassuringly. But she did not look very assured at all.

Turning to Toby, he said,
"tell Mrs. Lovett and Mr. Todd that Johanna's arrived, and to
take care of her until I come back."

Toby merely nodded slowly,
yawning. Kissing Johanna once more on the forehead, Antony sprinted
from the shop.

As he ran down the streets
he collided with someone that nearly threw him completely off
balance. Instead, the person who he had bumped into fell to the
floor, her body sprawled across the road. "Oh, ma'am, i'm so
sorry!" He apologized hastily, helping her up. He jumped back
when he saw who it was. The beggar woman looked up at him and grabbed
his wrist so tightly he could feel her long nails move into his skin.
"Warn them, boy, warm them. Murderer. Witch. Liar. They come in
but they don't come out..." she muttered venomously. "No
one see's it, I says, no one see's it. But the sign of the devil is
in there, sir. Wicked, sir, wicked..." Bewildered, Antony ripped
his wrist from her grip and stepped back a considerable amount. The
woman was barking mad. "I'm sorry, ma'am," he said,
apologizing once more before running away. The beggar woman watched
him. "Mischief... mayhem... Must warn them, I must. Must stop
the devils hand. Yes, must..." her voice trailed off as she
began to shuffle towards the shop, her head bowed.

Meanwhile, Johanna dressed
herself in the clothes that Antony left for her. She didn't say a
word to Toby even though he began talking to her and telling her the
splendors of the shop. "It's great here, it is," Toby said,
his back to her as he trailed his finger across the piano keys. "Mum,
Mrs. Lovett, that is, is amazing. So kind. Took me in, she did, when
I was with that horrible man, Perilli. Saved me, she did."
Johanna merely gazed at the crackling fire. Toby grinned toothily at
her. "You're too pretty to look like a boy," he said
sweetly. She looked over at him and a small smile crossed her lips
for the first time that night.

"Welp, I better go
tell Mr. Todd what Antony said. Don't worry, he might scare you a
little bit at first. To be honest, I don't like 'em all too much.
Seems a bit sketchy to me. But if mum trusts him, well..." his
words traveled into silence as his smile faded. Shaking his head a
bit, he tried to force a chuckle to calm his own nerves. "I'll
go get 'em, then, you stay here. If you see mum, be sure to tell her
who you are. She don't like people in the shop at this hour. No, not
at all," he said. Johanna nodded and watched as he began to walk
upstairs to the parlor, her heart beating slowly as she started to
realize that this place seemed vaguely familiar.

Not knowing the war all
around her that was just beginning.

"Where is she?"
Judge Turpin said immediately as Sweeney Todd closed the door to his
parlor shop. "Patience, my Lord. All good things come to those
who wait," Sweeney told him, a grueling smile crossing his face.
Memories of when Mrs. Lovett had told him to wait poking through his
thoughts. He went to take the Judge's coat but he recoiled. "How
can I trust you?" he asked uncertainly, eyeing the barber
threateningly. Sweeney knew that he would have to be extra careful
not to scare him off. This was his last chance to do exactly what he
had been striving to do for so, so long. "Sir, the sailor boy,
he trusts me. But my Lord, he is a naive child. She had seen that.
She was immensely turned off by his childlike demeanor and realized
her wrong ways. She asked me to bring you here tonight so she could
return to you," Sweeney explained gently. The more he talked,
the calmer the Judge seemed to become. He had gotten off his coat and
it was now hanging over the trunk that still slightly smelled of
death. Coaxing the Judge to sit, Sweeney continued on with his
vicarious lies. "She's getting herself ready for you, you see.
Wanted you to see her in all of her beauty, confess her love and
gratitude to you. Begging for your forgiveness, she was," He
whispered in the Judge's ear as he sat down in the barber chair.
"Ah... good, good...And if it is forgiveness she wants, she
shall surely get it. I suppose I can trust you, barber," the
Judge said, staring up at him, his damaged ego obviously healed.
Sweeney walked over to his vanity where his blades lay. "Perhaps,
my Lord, you would like a shave?" He proposed, holding his blade
up to the mirror and grinning widely when he saw his reflection. Yes,
this position, this scene... It was like a beautiful monologue in a
story. His story. And
he was going to finish it so that when everyone saw his creation,
they would be burned with the magnificence. "No, I really should
be getting ready for her arrival," the Judge says, the idea
dawning on him and he began to rise from his seat. Panic arising in
Sweeney, he whipped around and put his hand on the Judge's shoulder,
pushing him down. Startled, the Judge looked up at him with his
eyebrows furred. Bad move,
Sweeney thought to himself and immediately tried to make an excuse
for it. "Yes, but if she comes, dear Judge, do you really want
her to see... Well..." he moved his hand across the Judge's
prickled chin. Watching self-consciousness come over the Judge,
Sweeney's heart slowed. "Ah... This... This is true, barber,
this is true. Alright," he said, giving in and leaving back,
getting himself comfortable in the chair. "Give me the best
shave you can, and nothing but the best. Perhaps some French cologne
while you're at it." He ordered. Feeling his vengeance upcoming,
Sweeney's hands began to shake when he grabbed his shaving cream and
began applying it to Judge Turpin's jaw, mouth, cheeks and neck. "Oh,
sir," he said, his voice trembling with excitement. "I can
guarantee you the closest shave you will ever
have..."

"Pretty women,
barber, pretty women... Dear Johanna, so graceful and beautiful,"
the Judge spoke to himself as Sweeney moved the blade across a belt
tied to the chair, trying to keep his composure until the time was
right. Swiftly, he moved to the Judge's side, taking one look outside
his window. Tonight was the night all of London would see what
revenge could do. How it could corrupt... destroy. Yes,
tonight everyone will see my beautiful picture... "Hair
like flowing gold, such luminous eyes..." he continued on.
Sweeney looked back at him with a malicious glint in his eyes, which,
for the first time in years, looked alive and shining. "Like her
mother," Sweeney mumbled loud enough for the Judge to hear. And
immediately, he could see the gears turning in the Judge's head.
"Like her ... Mother? Excuse me?" The Judge asked, peering
upwards at Sweeney whose blade was above his head and shimmering in
the moonlight casted down through the window panes. And suddenly, a
look of anxiety and familiarity came over his face. Sweeney merely
smiled at him, bearing his teeth. "The years, no doubt, have
changed me, sir. But then I suppose the face of a barber, the face of
a prisoner in the dark, is not particularly memorable." He
hissed, hands gripped tightly onto the handle of his blade. The eyes
of the Judge widened. Confirmation played on his face. "Benjamin
Barker..." he said with a cracked, scared voice as he began to
inch away from him. But there was no escape this time.

Trembling, Sweeney's
expression maddened. "BENJAMIN. BARKER!" He yelled out and
jabbed the blade straight into the Judge's throat, his face welcoming
the blood that began to hit him full force. Again, and again, and
again the blade had stabbed the Judge. In that moment, all of his
revenge, his anger, his malice, his envy, his grief, his sadness,
poured into the repeated actions that he knew were justified. Not
ever would he forget how the Judge's face froze in pure terror, and
how it shook uncontrollably when blood spurted out onto the windows
and the floor. Nor would he regret each thrust that went into him.

As a final blow, Sweeney
gracefully slid his razor across the Judge's jugular, and with a
fountain of crimson pouring out, he hit the pedal on his barber chair
and watched the body drop into the baker below. When the chair came
back up, he breathed heavily, mind going numb for just a few seconds.
He was still in blind rage, but he knew it was over. It was finally
over.

Falling to his knees, he
looked at his dripping friends. They had done their purpose so well.
"Sleep now, my friend..."
he began to sing to himself, looking at the blade lovingly and
caressing it with his dirty fingertips. Blood made it's way down his
unkempt hair onto the tip of his nose before falling off onto the
wooden floors. There was no time to clean this mess. The deed was
done... there was nothing else to do. He went to put the blade onto
the barber chair until he heard a rattled voice and footsteps walk up
the stairs.

Immediately snapping back
into action, he went dead silent and listened.

"Judge Turpin? Judge
Turpin... I know you're up here, I saw you come up here, I did... Oh,
what have they done... The witches spell cast on you? Turpin,
Turpin..."

The old beggar woman
walked through the door, her head bowed. She walked into the parlor
and, upon noticing the blood that spread from the barber chair to her
bare, dirty feet, she looked up and gasped. "Devil..." She
muttered shakily. "Devil!" she pointed at Sweeney and
screamed. Sweeney immediately ran over and covered the womans mouth,
looking into her mad blue eyes with his dark cold ones. "You
must pay for what you know..." he mumbled to her, uncovering her
mouth. Before he could do anything, the woman scrunched up her face
as if trying to get a better look at him. "Don't I know you...?"
she whispered, more to herself then to him. But without another word
being said, he slit open her throat with no pause or thought. Her
body stayed upheld for a moment before he threw her into the barber
chair and pressed down on the pedal. Her body met the same fate as
the Judge's, crawling down the chute and landing with a satisfying
crunch. Finally, he
thought, it's done...

But even as he turned to
the door, ready to greet the rest of London with both of his hands
blooded from revenge, he stopped mid-step when he saw what was
awaiting him.

With a jaw dropped in
shock and eyes big as saucers, Toby stood in the doorway motionless.

And Sweeney Todd knew at
that moment that the night was far from over.

Mrs. Lovett was already in
the basement, stomping on the bugs passed by and holding a filth
cloth to her nose. The stench was sometimes unbearable but she put up
with it daily so it got worse less and less. She had been waiting for
the body of the Judge to drop, all the while sitting on top of an old
barrel that used to hold ale. She had been thinking of the earlier
events over and over in her mind. She could still feel his hands all
over her. Grasping her, caressing her... They had always been so
rough but they had felt so soft then. Mrs. Lovett knew that she saw
Benjamin Barker come out again. Yes, he was easily taken over once
more by Sweeney Todd at the first sign of the Judge, but it had been
worth it. After all, she understood, more than anyone knew, that this
was more important than her. Yes, sometimes you have to see the big
picture to understand the little one glimpse that you get of it. She
understood this. Even so, her mind wandered as she nibbled on a
corner of the cloth. Life is for the alive,her mind told her. And she had finally been
alive with him.

Perhaps after this, she
thought, crossing her legs. They could keep up the shop, and move to
the sea one day like she had always wanted. And he would finally be
happy, with all of his revenge aside. He would finally begin to let
her in full force. She would have the change she had been waiting for
ever since she had met Benjamin Barker that fateful day.

He had been so young back
then, and even Mrs. Lovett looked more kempt than she did now. He had
dark, rich brown hair that curved under his earlobe and was combed
back on the top. Sometimes strands of hair would fall around his
round face and he would look angelic. She remembered him knocking on
her shop door. She had been with her now deceased husband, Albert, at
the time. He was on his death bed when Benjamin Barker arrived. Mrs.
Lovett had opened the door and greeted him with a smile, telling him
that the shop was closed due to personal family affairs. He had
insisted, however, to rent out the room upstairs. "I noticed
that no one ever uses it," he had told her, "and I would
really like to start a business. A barbershop, if you will."
Mrs. Lovett at the time was planning to use the upstairs room for her
own personal use. Perhaps a study room, since she did so enjoy
reading literature. But she couldn't help but be slightly enticed by
the mans deep eyes and sweet smile. Though she was married, she was
roped in immediately by his charm. After Albert had died she rented
it out to the man, and together her income began to come up. She
would sometimes take breaks from cooking to go up and watch him shave
his customers. He would always be so polite to her, and offer her hot
tea. They would talk about nothing and anything at all. Both
innocent... so innocent, naive.

Mrs. Lovett lowered her
eyes and listened to the furnace a few feet away from her. Things had
once been so simple, and now had become so complicated. Benjamin
Barker had been there for her in rough times. Had grabbed the liquor
out of her hands when she sobbed over the loss of her husband, or
when she had been stressed out about the lack of customers in the
shop. He would come down and help her regularly run the shop if
things got to be too much for her. They had slowly been growing
closer. Mrs. Lovett couldn't help but feel that she was falling for
him, and she knew there would come a time where it would be
appropriate to tell him so. And she always had a fear that they were
not reciprocated. So she waited... she waited until she had some kind
of a sign, or a hint. And eventually, the sign did come, Mrs. Lovett
thought to herself bitterly. A sign in the form of a beautiful, blond
woman named Lucy.

She would never forget the
day she saw that wench clinging to Benjamin's arm. Giggling like a
school girl, her golden hair in curls down to her shoulders. Mrs.
Lovett loathed her immediately upon meeting her. She had shook the
womans frail, small hands, and had the huge urge to spit on them. But
she held herself back. Instead, she put on a sweet smile and offered
her a free meat pie. Now that she thought about it, she should've
burned the damned thing. "A little
overcooked," Lucy had said to her.
"Perhaps you shouldn't leave it in the
burner for too long next time." As if
the woman knew anything about working with her bare hands, Mrs.
Lovett had thought angrily. She had probably never even touched a
pint of flour in her life. Would be too scared of ruining her dainty
lil' fingers, she would.

Fuming, Mrs. Lovett stood
up and began pacing, still chewing on the corner of the napkin even
more violently than before. The mere memory of Lucy made her skin
boil. For years she had been in the shop below them, watching day by
day as he fell more and more in love with her. And yet, even as they
began to grow more distant with every week that passed, Benjamin
Barker never stopped coming down to help her with her shop. He would
constantly tell her stories. "I'll marry
her, I will..." Benjamin had told her.
At the time, Mrs. Lovett wanted to bash the woman with one of her
cooking pans and see if Benjamin would still love her if she hadn't
looked like a bloody goddess. But again, she refrained. And when they
had a child, she treated it as if it was her own. Not that Lucy ever
let her hold the baby, but when she was gone and Benjamin needed help
she would lend her motherly touch. Lucy would never know about it,
for Benjamin and her both knew that if Lucy ever heard that Mrs.
Lovett had touched her child she would throw a fit over it. Pretty
little thing came off so level-headed, but Mrs. Lovett knew, even if
no one else did, that she could push her buttons if she wanted to.
But for the sake of Benjamin, she never did. She just wanted to see
him happy, even if he didn't see something good right before him. And
after all, Mrs. Lovett would never be the stunning, blond angel that
Lucy was. Not even if she tried. Nor would she ever fall down to that
level to become such a thing. No, Mrs. Lovett was a hard-working
woman who was happy with herself. She would never change for anyone
else, not even Benjamin Barker.

And then, it happened.
Suddenly, Lucy came in a blubbering matter through her shop door one
day. "Transported! Taken away! Under false charge!" she had
screeched, falling to her knees while holding her child. Her hair was
scraggly and loose, sweat pouring down her soft face. Mrs. Lovett had
rushed to her side and taken the child, giving Lucy multiple cups of
gin. "Where is he?" she had asked, frightened. "Where
is Benjamin?"

Thats when Lucy explained
what had happened with the Judge, and how she would never see
Benjamin ever again. Mrs. Lovett took care of her, sitting upstairs
at her bedside and listening to her cry until she had fallen asleep.
The woman had been completely torn apart by what had happened. But
whens he had fallen asleep, Mrs. Lovett had stammered down the
staircase into her shop. A hand on the wall to keep her balancing,
tears streaming down her face. Benjamin Barker... transported. All
because of that foolish woman. She couldn't even stand up for him, or
stop him. She didn't even attempt to try. She merely ran... ran away
from the man she claimed to love so she didn't get hurt. Selfish
wench. Good for nothing, she was. Mrs. Lovett had spent the whole
night drinking, not getting a wink of sleep and working silently in
the morning. Word had spread about Benjamin Barker's sudden
disappearance, and many of her customers were more interested in
hearing the juicy gossip rather than buying her meat pies.

From that point on, Lucy
never came down from the upstairs room. She stayed with her child,
weeping. Every so often the Judge would come and leave roses at her
doorstep. She would take them and leave them on her desk, letting
them die and wilt. Not once did Lucy ever come down, unless it was to
break down to Mrs. Lovett and speak of how much she missed Benjamin.
In which Mrs. Lovett would always take time out of her schedule to
take care of the lousy woman. Never did she refuse to hand a
shoulder. Constantly Mrs. Lovett would go up and take care of Johanna
while Lucy wept in the corner, unable to handle what life had thrown
at her. So weak, Mrs.
Lovett though. Weak and naive.

Then, on that glorious but
fateful day, Lucy had disappeared from her upstairs establishment.
Leaving her daughter alone. Mrs. Lovett didn't know where she was,
but had cared for Johanna regardless. Deep down in her heart,
stemming from all the anger and hate that boiled over the years of
taking care of that ungrateful fool, she almost hoped that the woman
would't return. But she did. She returned tattered and torn. Tears
rolling down her dirt stained face. It no longer looked angelic, but
filthy and rotten. The Judge had raped her, tricking her into coming
to his home. "I can't take it anymore,
Mrs. Lovett..." Lucy had told her in a
quivering voice, taking a vial full of liquid out of her bodice."This is arsenic, Mrs. Lovett. I'm going
to kill myself..." and even with all the
hatred that shook Mrs. Lovett to her core, she tried to stop her."Are you off your rocker, silly woman?
Your daughter needs you, and you just plan to leave 'ER?" Lucy
never responded but had grabbed Johanna out of Mrs. Lovett's arms and
ran off. Mrs. Lovett had followed her, only to end up watching as
Lucy sucked the vial dry and collapsed. Before Mrs. Lovett could grab
the child, her worst fears came true. Judge Turpin found Lucy and the
child and had grabbed Johanna immediately. The guards in the city all
surrounded Lucy and carried her out.

Mrs. Lovett was sure that
she was dead, and for years lived alone in her shop. Thinking to
herself that Lucy was gone for good, and that Johanna was in the arms
of the very man that threw her to the brink.

Imagine her horror when...

Crash!

A body fell down from the
chute in the form of Judge Turpin. Jumping a bit, Mrs. Lovett gasped.
His head cracked on the pavement of the basements floor. Dropping her
cloth, she bent over towards him, checking to see if he was really
dead. Joy filled her heart, knowing that Sweeney had gotten what he
had been hoping for. Warmth flooded over her as she sighed happily.
Perhaps now the nightmares would stop, she thought. Perhaps now
everything would be over with. After all, Sweeney only had one thing
holding him back from becoming who he used to be. Soon, he would be
with his daughter Johanna, and everything would be okay again.
Everything would be like it was before he met that damned woman. She
let her mind dream. Finally, it was all over... Everything was done.

However, to her unpleasant
surprise, soon after that, she heard the chute open up again.
Confused, she watched another body toppled over Judge Turpin's. And
her mouth dropped at the sight of who it was. The old beggar woman
laid before her, throat slit wide open. "You!"
She growled, panicking. He had killed her. But had he known...? No,
we must burn her body first, Mrs. Lovett
thought, her body beginning to shake as she looked around
frantically. She needed to get her body where no one could see it,
and quickly. Her mind racing, she reached down to grab the womans
dress and drag her with the rest of the bodies in her grinding
machine. However, just as she began doing it, the door to the baker
opened up with a loud bang.

"Fucking bugger!"
Sweeney growled, gripping his blooded hair. Her heart stopped
beating. Did he know? She tried to drag the womans body even faster.
"The boy! He saw. I couldn't get him in time. He's gone by now.
To tell the authorities, no doubt," Sweeney said, throwing one
of the barrels against the wall in anger and watching it explode into
wooden fragments. "We have to get out of here, and quickly. We
have to make sure Johanna is safe," he told her. Mrs. Lovett
said nothing but concentrated as best she could to getting the body
out of sight. But unfortunately, Sweeney noticed. "Good God,
woman," he muttered, throwing his razor to the side. "Leave
the woman to me and grab the Judge, we will merely throw them into
the fire," he ordered strongly. "But, Mr. Todd," Mrs.
Lovett said, breathing fast. She couldn't let him. She couldn't. "I
SAID DO IT!" Sweeney yelled. Trembling, she recoiled to the
side, opening the door to the furnace. She only had hope that he
wouldn't see...

But as the light from the
furnace came over the womans face, Sweeney Todd's heart fell.

There, laying in a bloody
mess, was his Lucy.

Dropping to his knees,
bewildered, Sweeney moved her head towards him. "Lucy...?"
he whispered to himself. Her sweet face looked back at him, lifeless.
Lifeless because of his thirst for revenge... because of his
impairable mistakes and unquenched anger. "Do I know you... she
said..." He muttered, remembering how the old beggar woman had
looked at him and asked if she knew him. Now, he thought, if he had
only waited... but he was so careless, he had merely ignored her
words and cut her throat right open. Staring at his blood-stained
hands, he realized that he had just killed his wife. He
had just killed Lucy.

"You... you knew she
was alive..." Sweeney said in disbelief, his mouth becoming dry
and his sight blurring. He wasn't sure whether he should cry or
scream. He didn't really know what to feel. But he knew one emotion
that he was very familiar with begin to take place of his logic.
Looking up at Mrs. Lovett's shocked face, it finally clicked in his
head. "You lied to me..." Sweeney said.

"Lied? No, no,"
Mrs. Lovett began to shake her head wildly, hair flying around her.
"I never lied, no, I didn't lie," she said as Sweeney began
to slowly stand with his head bowed to the floor. He was going to
kill her, thought Mrs. Lovett, he was going to kill her just like he
had killed all his customers. "I told you she took the poison,
but I never said she died..." Mrs. Lovett pointed out, trying to
find a loophole in her false words. And even though she was right,
she knew that the man was too smart to fall for such a deceiving
notion. He raised his head and looked at her with sorrow-filled eyes
that pierced through her soul. Mrs. Lovett turned away from him,
breathing hard and then went for the baker door. But he had been too
fast for her. He blocked her path and grabbed her hand, moving
against her and cornering her. Mrs. Lovett made sure there was air
between them as she tried to say whatever she could. "I did not
lie to you! I didn't. It was for your own good. She was barking mad,
she was! The poison made her go crazy! They sent her to Bedlam into
the Asylum. She was suppose to be dead!" She cried out, chest
heaving. "But you knew she was alive. You knew. All these years,
Mrs. Lovett... you knew. And you didn't say a bloody word," he
began laughing hysterically. Manically. For the first time, Mrs.
Lovett was frightened for her very life. "You're a bloody
wonder, Mrs. Lovett, eminently practical and yet appropriate as
always!" he roared and she felt her back against a wall. Who
would have known that earlier this would've been the ideal position
she would've liked to be in with Sweeney Todd, and now she would do
anything to disappear. "I only did it because I loved you!"
sobbed Mrs. Lovett, who at this point had no logic left to use. "I
love you, Benjamin Barker! I have always loved you. And I could be
twice the wife she ever was and you know it!"

Chuckling to himself,
Sweeney's shoulders shook and there was dead silence between them. No
one said a word. The only noise was the sounds of rats scuttering
around in the sewers beneath them, looking for food.

"You... love me, Mrs.
Lovett. Charming... oh, so charming." He breathed, looking up at
her. Crying softly, Mrs. Lovett watched him and continued to shake
her head. "Yes... I love you. I've loved you since the day I met
you, Benjamin Barker." Sweeney motioned for her to come forward.
"Yes, Mrs. Lovett. Oh, of course you have. Life is for the
alive, am I right? Everything's in the past. That's what you said to
me before, Mrs. Lovett, is it not?" Mrs. Lovett could not tell
whether he was being truthful or not so she continued to back away.
There was a malice in his voice that she could not pin point.
"Benjamin, don't do this..." She begged of him as he began
walking towards her. "Oh, Mrs. Lovett, come here love. My
darling pet," and with a swift move of his hand he grabbed her
wrist and began dancing with her infront of the furnace. Quickly they
waltzed as he began to sing to her. "By the sea, Mrs. Lovett.
Wouldn't that be smashing?" He said with a smile that ripped her
heart in two. She wanted to trust him and give in, but she couldn't
let herself. No, she couldn't. She couldn't fall for it. But his
voice was so beautiful... "You and me, Mr. T, we could be alone
in a house wot we'd almost own, down by the sea..." She sang
along with him, forcing a pained smile on her face. Sweeney's mind
was twisting. She had lied to him, betrayed to him, and yet even now
she looked so beautiful. But everything she stood for was fake. She
was nothing more than a whore in sheep's clothing. Because of her, he
lost the only chance to ever be with his wife again. Because of her,
he had killed the love of his life. And that made her beauty melt
into something grotesque and vile.

He stopped dancing with
her and pulled her close. They stood infront of the open furnace, the
fire shining in the innocent eyes that looked up at him. He bent down
to her lips, and her mind stopped working as he did. She thought he
was going to go to kiss her, but he made a detour and set his lips
near her ear.

"I never noticed,
Mrs. Lovett... Your beauties fading," he whispered harshly. Her
eyes went wide, and she became very alert. "It's fading,"
he said quietly.

And with that, he grabbed
her waist and made motion to throw her straight into the furnace.
However, Mrs. Lovett had caught on too early, and grabbed onto his
arm. When he went to throw her, she merely held onto him and kicked
off with her feet, swinging around him and sending him flying into
the furnace herself. Falling to the floor, she gasped when she heard
his screams and cries as the fire began to light him. Squealing, she
ran to him and pulled him out of the furnace, ripping off pieces of
her dress and throwing them on the flames that surrounded him. "No!
NO!" She gasped, barely breathing as smoke entered her lungs
from being so close to the fire. Sweeney Todd, coughing, began to
lift himself up on all fours, reaching into his belt for an extra
razor that was held there. Grabbing it and sliding it out of its
hold, he whipped it around on her and sliced a part of her cheek.
"Augh!" she collapsed to the floor, holding the side of her
face. She could feel the blood trickle down her chin and neck. Both
of them breathing heavily, he leaned over towards her as she looked
up at him. He went to slice open her throat but she caught his hand,
using the rest of her strength to hold him back. "Benjamin,
don't do this, please, don't do this. By the sea, Benjamin! By the
beautiful sea..." she spluttered, trying to calm him. "We
all deserve to die..." he grumbled, pushing hard against her
hand.

With that, he gave one
last push, with Mrs. Lovett's neck and his own meeting both sides of
the blade. Pressing against each others necks.

"Even you, Mrs.
Lovett... Even I." He muttered quietly as her petrified eyes
locked with his.

But it wasn't in a voice
that was threatening. It was pained. Suddenly, she had seen all the
hatred in his eyes fade.

She was no more looking at
Sweeney Todd. She was looking at Benjamin Barker.

Tears had welled up in his
eyes as everything that he had done to the people around him dawned
on him.

He saw all the people he
killed... he saw his blade against Lucy's throat.

He saw the way he had
treated Mrs. Lovett despite her lies, she had always been so kind.

All in the name of
revenge. It was suppose to be so sweet... but in the end had only
killed him.

And in that moment,
Sweeney Todd realized that yes, she had lied to him. But she was
there every day of his life. Every time he began to brood she would
try to make him smile. Even before he was transported, Mrs. Lovett
never left his side. He had tried to push her away as best he could
but she still stayed. Through all the laughter, the pain, the tears,
the anger, the murder... she never turned her back on him. Even now,
as they laid across each other, a blade to both of their necks, she
didn't run away. And yet she knew in her eyes that this could be the
end. Yet still she trusted him with all of her heart, however
reluctant it was. Her warm touch had broken his hard heart in two
when not even the memory of Lucy could've done that.

And almost as if she knew
what he was trying to say to her, she whimpered.

And he knew that there was
only one way to get rid of this terrible monster inside of him that
had killed everyone he loved around him.

And she knew... she knew
there was no way to run from the fate that she had wrought upon
herself, and the tragic lies she had woven.

They both knew at that
moment, that they would never escape the nightmares.

"By the sea, we'll
grow old together, Benjamin Barker..." she sang softly, tears
streaming down her face. She knew what was to come.

"By the sea, Nellie
Lovett, married nice and proper," he responded in an equally
leveled tone. The tip of his nose against hers.

"By the beautiful
sea..." they both sang the last note together, and with those
words left hanging, he move the blade against her throat and his.
Cutting them both open together as the blood poured into each other.
Sweeney Todd collapsing on her as her eyes rolled to the back of her
head. His blood dripped onto her body, down her chest and below her
bodice. Mrs. Lovett laid there below him her hand holding his with a
blade in between both of their palms. The color drained from her sight
but she could not remember a time they were so vivid. Revenge escaped
Sweeney Todd but he could not remember a time where he felt so filled
inside of his heart. And even in that moment, as they both took their
last breaths and life escaped them, Mrs. Lovett had found that she
had died knowing what really could
have been. And Benjamin Barker died knowing that he could
forgive and love again.

And he had finally
finished the story he had been writing.

His picture perfect
portrait was finally complete.

And even in death, Mrs.
Lovett had never left his side.

FIN

asdl;sfdslkjgfdsjg. YAY
THE END. Okay, wow. This was INCREDIBLY hard for me to write. Like
you don't even know. I had such bad writer's block. And oh my
goodness, I wanted to change the end SO badly. I wanted to make it so
Mrs. Lovett and Sweeney Todd could have a life together but I knew it
wouldn't be right. The story is the story and while you can rewrite
the ending, it still must be the end. I thought this would be a much
more appropriate way to end it rather then just have him throw her
into a furnace and then mope over Lucy's dead body. I think at the
end of this chapter Sweeney really did see that Mrs. Lovett had been
there through all of it. I wanted them to die together on a good
note, not a bad note. And I really hope you liked it.

Thank you to ALL of my
reviewers. Oh my goodness, you guys totally rock. I love you
desperately. I hope you don't like, hate the ending of my story. LOL.

To be honest, this is
actually one ending out of two that i'm going to write. I have a
whole 'nother series upcoming between Sweeney and Lovett. What if
they both had lived to see another day? Oh, I really can't wait to
write it. I hope you guys did enjoy this one though, and i'm glad
it's over because now I have a clean slate.

Thank you, thank you,
thank you, thank you everyone.

I couldn't have done it
without your support.

Much love, forever.

-LiquidThoughts a.k.a
Alexandra

The author would like to thank you for your continued support. Your review has been posted.